Tekken Story: Death of a Hero
by The Cloak
Summary: A prequel to 'The God of Fighting'. The story of Zack...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Thanksgiving**

Zack

"Zack! Wake up!" I heard my mother shout from downstairs.

I turned over and started to go back to sleep.

"Zack!" my mother shouted again, the distance between the first and second floor slightly muffling her obviously loud shouting.

"Come on Zack!" Another voice said.

I recognized Arlene's voice at once. "Arlene's here!"

I jumped out of bed. "I can't believe she's here so early!"

I pulled on my clothes, pushed my shoulder-length black hair out of my eyes, and ran downstairs. As soon as I saw Arlene we embraced.

"Hey, Arlene!" I said.

"What, have you forgotten about me?" My mother asked.

"How could I forget about you?" I said as I hugged her.

I turned back to Arlene. "Why are you here so early?"

She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head. "You really don't remember?"

My mother rolled her eyes at me.

My eyes roved the room, looking for a clue. Chair…T.V…couch…calendar…CALENDAR! I stole a quick glance at the calendar. I read the date and remembered!

"Thanksgiving!" I said.

"Don't try to fool me." She said. "I saw you staring at the calendar."

I lifted my arms in defeat. Arlene walked past me and sat on the couch with my mother.

"You missed breakfast." My mother said. Seeing my face she quickly added, "I saved some sausage and eggs for you."

I whooped and threw my hands in the air before running to the kitchen. I picked up a plate and put it into the microwave. I returned to the couch after heating up my breakfast. My mother had the news on.

"…and that may close our roads for quite a while."

My mother's jaw dropped.

"The roads might be closed." She said in shock. "I better call everyone and check if they're still coming."

All they had after that report was some coverage of a tournament that was going on. My mother walked back into the living room.

"Yep. The roads are closed because of a hurricane." She said sadly. "What am I going to do with all the food I cooked?"

I looked to her. "I did say I'd eat all the leftovers."

Arlene looked at me. "You're such a pig."

I left her words hanging in the air. Why should I deny what was plain and simply true?

My mother chuckled. "If you think you can eat a dinner that I set for eight." She said.

I smiled. "No problem."

My mom chuckled and Arlene rolled her eyes. What the heck? Are they teaming up against me or something?

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side!" I told Arlene playfully.

"I'm sorry, but your mother's right." She answered.

Oh, this was just great! Now I had my mother and my girlfriend out to get me. I decided to change the subject.

"So…can I go out and train?"

"Fine, fine." My mother said. "You can go and train."

I ran outside, Arlene walking behind me. When I reached the training ground I had set up behind my house I walked up to the boxing bag I had put up.

Once I started punching it, I completely forgot that I was in my backyard. I imagined I was in one of those fighting tournaments held by Mishima Incorporated to find some talent to hire. My mother was always scared that some mob would hire me as a hitman.

I bounced around on my feet as I punched and kicked the bag. Arlene always said that I could go for either Boxing or Capoiera the way I bounced around on my heels. I had problems with both of them. When I tried to box I'd always shoot out a kick against my will; and Capoiera had way too many cartwheels and flips for me. I tried it once and ended up breathless and flat on my back. So I simply went for the label "Variety Fighting". I mean, it didn't have much flash to the name, but it described what I did best – improvise.

"I think it's dead." Arlene said playfully.

I stopped and took a good long look at the old, battered boxing bag. "You're right…I think I thoroughly pummeled it."

We both laughed.

"Man, I wish I had someone to train with." I said.

"You could train with me." Arlene answered.

"What!?…You fight? Why didn't you tell me before?" I asked incredulously.

"You never asked."

"Okay." I said.

Arlene jumped off her seat and walked into the middle of the training arena. I got into my fighting stance. I decided to let Arlene have the first move. She ran at me and punched for my head, I dodged, but she had already bent down and tripped me. I fell to the ground. I got back up quickly, but she had done a cartwheel and kicked me in the chest, making me fall back to the ground.

"Jeez!" I said, lying on the ground. "Where did you learn to fight? The military?!"

"I know Capoiera." She said simply.

I got back up slowly – just in case she tried to surprise me again.

"Okay. That's enough for today." I said.

Arlene laughed at the scared expression on my face. Seeing that the sun was far from setting, she asked, "How about we go for a walk?"

"Sure." I answered. "That's a lot safer than training with you."

We both laughed as we walked onto the trail that led around the town. We talked almost the entire way around town. Then…

"Hey, did you see that?" I asked Arlene.

"What?"

"Weird."

"What's weird?" she asked.

"I swear I saw something move down in that forest."

I didn't want to scare her, so I didn't mention that what I saw had been big**.** Compared to the tree it had been standing next to…it must have been **at least** 6 feet tall. But, it had disappeared so quickly…nothing I knew could move that fast.

"Let's get out of here." I told Arlene.

She agreed and we started running down the trail. That's when hell broke loose. A hand burst out of the ground and tripped me. I looked over and saw…it wasn't a hand…it was a claw. It was pulling on my leg, as if it was trying to pull itself up out of the ground.

And it did. It pulled itself out of the ground. It was a 6-foot tall monster. It had green skin and looked like a troll. It was the most hideous thing I'd seen in my life. Then, more sprang up from underground.

I jumped in front of Arlene. "Get behind me!" I yelled as I got into my fighting stance.

One of the trolls ran at me. I kicked it in the chest before it reached me. Then, as another one came, I punched it in the face and then jumped up and kicked it in the chest. It fell to the ground. Another ran at me, bearing its claws like knives. I barely ducked under one and then kicked it in the groin. As it stumbled back, I punched it across the face. There was one left. I ran at it, jumped in the air, and kicked it with both feet in the chest.

Then a grotesque…thing came out of the forest. It had to be 8-feet tall.

"So, you beat my minions." It said. "Surprising."

And I did what had to be the stupidest thing in my life so far – I charged straight at it.


	2. Chapter 2

Not my shining moment. I was flat on my back before I could throw a punch. Immediately my stomach went numb, it was like getting hit by a car. I saw him lifting his foot, and I rolled out of the way of his stomp at the last moment. I bounded back to my feet. He'd knocked the wind out of me, and I knew from the first punch that I stood no chance. I shot a quick glance to my right, Arlene had already ran. The creature didn't seem to be paying attention to me. It ticked me off a little that he wasn't taking me seriously, but I was thankful that he didn't seem to care enough to follow me when I retreated.

I ran as fast as I could back to the house. The door seemed untouched, but I threw it open.

"MOM!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "Where are you?" No answer. I scrambled through the house. No sign of her. She must've run away.

Panic overrode me. I had to struggle to form a coherent thought. Mom, Arlene, they all seemed to have gotten away. Hopefully they were together somewhere, Arlene would have to take care of my mother. What could I do? It was only a matter of time before they got to this part of the town.

Just as the thought crossed my mind, the massive creature from before, trailed by two of its smaller minions, rounded the corner into sight. It walked with an air of uncaring, as if this was a daily occurrence. It pissed me off. I wanted to charge straight at him again, and I probably would have if not for what happened next.

A black blur flashed behind the creature and the two minions fell dead on the ground. I swiveled my view and saw a small figure clad in all black wearing a white mask standing on the other side of the street with sword drawn, the setting sun reflecting off of the blood coating its blade.

"Master, Now!" It shouted in a feminine voice.

Out of the trees, another blur dashed out, setting itself nimbly on the creature's back, I saw a flash of light as a sword was drawn, then abruptly plunged into the creature's back. The second figure jumped off the creature's back and landed on the ground, his image almost as terrifying as the creature's itself, tall, clad in black and brown body armor, with insect-like wings protruding from its back and a helmeted skull with shining green eyes for a face.

The creature howled in fury as blood poured from the gaping hole in its back.

"You were a good hunt, Ogre." The skull-faced man said in a raspy, inhuman voice. "The best. But you could not escape me."

The ground shook when the bleeding creature let out a deep roar and shot a long clawed hand out at him. He quickly sidestepped the move, and I abruptly realized the claw was heading straight for me! I tried to move but I was too late, my muscles stiffened, preparing for pain that never came. I opened eyes I hadn't realized had been closed and saw the creatures claws interlocked with the blade of the skull-man's sword.

"Run!" He urged me, as his arms shook, struggling against the creature's brute strength.

_No._ I thought._ After what he's done here, I'm going to watch him die._

Yoshimitsu

The boy didn't move. Idiot child. That was none of my business, only Ogre mattered. Summoning what little strength I had left, I pushed Ogre's claw away. We'd been tracking him for weeks, skirmishing with his troops every couple days, and the constant battles had taken their toll on our ranks. Most of the warriors in the clan were injured; Kunimitsu and I, though exhausted both physically and mentally, had been the only ones capable enough to come attack Ogre. We were hoping an ambush would finish him quickly; obviously, we needed a new plan now.

I watched as Kunimitsu held off Ogre's claws, the stab through his chest seemed to have done some damage, but not nearly as much as we'd been relying on. Resigning to the fact that direct combat was inevitable, I dashed at Ogre. Just as I reached him, he landed a blow on Kunimitsu, digging his claws into her shoulder. He quickly turned and lashed out at me. I deflected his blow and swung at his chest, hoping to open the present wound wider. He caught my sword on his arm, the blade only slightly digging into his thick hide, and brushed my attack off. Kunimitsu suddenly appeared in the air above his head and landed atop his shoulders. She attempted to strike straight down at his head as he swung back and forth, trying to throw her off. Taking advantage of the moment, I sidestepped out of his vision and thrust my blade into his side.

He let out an enraged growl as he finally threw Kunimitsu off her perch. He stumbled back a few steps, then with a look of pure hatred, charged straight at us. We leapt out of the way just in time as he barreled past us. With a start, I realized he was heading straight for the boy and his house. There was nothing even my speed could do for him and I prepared myself to witness another casualty of Ogre's rampage.


End file.
